Locating and selector means for button positioning machines



Nov. 10, 1942.

J. J. KARBUS LOCATING AND SELECTOR MEANS FOR BUTTON POSITIONING MACHINES Filed June 28, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet l & @0 o IN VENTOR. .[0/7/1 J. Kar bus Nov. 10, 1942. J KARBUS 2,301,547

LOCATING AND SELECTOR MEANS FOR BUTTON POSITIONING MACHINES Filed June 28, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VENTOR.

Patented Nov. 10, 1942 LOCATING AND SELECTOR MEANS FOR BUTTON POSITIONING MACHINES John J. Karbus, Waterbury, Conn., assignor to Scovill Manufacturing Company, .Waterbury, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Application June 28, 1941, Serial No. 400,236

3 Claims.

My present invention relates to a selective orienting mechanism on a button attaching machine. More particularly it relates to a mechanism for selectively orienting buttons or the like having a design on their top and means on the button bearing a definite relation to the design and adapted for engagement with the orienting means on the button attaching mechanism and constitutes an improvement upon the selective orienting button positioning machine disclosed in the patent to Huelster, No. 2,248,087, dated July 8, 1941.

In the mechanism of the above-mentioned Huelster patent. the buttons to be oriented are rotated upon their axis at an orienting station Whereat three separate locating members which are selectively operable, are provided, the separate locating members being either manually or automatically operable in any desired sequence or order depending upon the number and relation of buttons which are to be attached to the garment.

In the operation of the machine of the aforementioned patent each of the locating members is normally biased out of button engaging position by a coil spring and the selector members are provided with spring means of sumcient strength to counteract the biasing springs so that when a selector member is moved to operate a locating member, the spring of the former in engaging the locating member overcomes the biasing action of the spring of the latter and moves the locating member into locating position. In the practical operation of the Huelster machines it has been found that the springs carried by the selector members occasionally failed in their operation, probably due to fatigue or to inherent defects in the spring and because of such failure the machine occasionally missed in properly orienting the buttons. In said Huelster machine, the separate springs which operated to hold the selector members in either their normal relation to the pusher slide by which they are carried or in their position of operatively engaging a locating member, also occasionally failed, probably due to the weakening of the springs because of the sharp detent formed in the crown thereof, which detents are subjected to a severe camming action when the selector members are moved into and out of locating member engaging positions.

My present invention contemplates eliminating the deficiencies inherent in the construction of the machines made in accordancewith the Huelster patent above mentioned, and in accomplish- 55 ing this I subject the locating members normally to the biasing action of springs which operate to hold the locating members in button engaging position and employ cooperating means on the locating members and on the selector members normally holding the locating members out of button engaging position and adapted upon movement of one of the selector members relatively to the movable member to disengae its cooperating locating member whereby the biasing spring will operate to move said locating member intobutton engaging position. I also provide in lieu of the three separate springs with the detents therein for holding the selector members in either their operative or inoperative relation to the locating members, a single spring means of novel construction.

The improvements constituting the present invention will be better understood from the detailed description which follows, when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein I have shown said improvements in combination with a machine of the general type shown in the Huelster patent aforementioned and wherein:

Figure 1 is a front'elevational sectional view of a button attaching machine embodying my improvements, said figure being taken substantially along the plane of the line I-l of Fig. 6;

Fig. 2 is a composite top plan view of the three locating members by means of which the buttons may be selectively oriented;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the middle locating member shown in Fig. 2, part thereof being broken away to better illustrate the button engagement means thereof;

Figs. 4 and 5 show respectively a top plan and a side elevation partly broken away, of one type of button adapted for orientation with the mechanism of my invention;

Fig. 6 is a top plan view of the portions of the machine shown in Fig. 1 with certain parts thereof broken away and other parts omitted;

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the improved spring means employed for holding the selector members in either their operative or inoperative positions within the selector slide.

Referring to the drawings the numeral l5 indicates a standard or head of a button attaching machine having attached thereto a main bracket l6 which carries a pair of undercut guides l1 and I8 which, with the main bracket, provide a raceway I 9 down which buttons or the like may move by gravity to an orienting station and from there be transferred to a button attaching station 20.

The main bracket and the guides carried thereby adjacent their lower ends, are curved to lead into the orienting station wherein a button will be supported with its head in a substantially horizontal plane.

Extending across the raceway at an appropriate point therein is any form of cutoff device adapted to deliver one button at a time to the orienting station, said cutoff device being herein shown as an oscillatable disk 2|. To oscillate the disk it is provided with a stud 23, to which is connected one end of a link 24, the other end of which is connected to a rock lever 25. For operating the rock lever 25 there is provided a bellcrank lever 25 which is pivoted at 21, one end of said lever bearing upon the free end of the rock lever 25 and the other end carrying an adjustable stud Zlia, through which movement is imparted to the bell crank-lever by an arm or lever 21a which is operated in synchronism with a pusher slide 28.

The orienting station which is at the bottom of the raceway, is defined by rotatable disks 29 and 39, having peripheral grooves therein which are normally spaced apart a suficient distance slightly less than the diameter of the head of a button which is to be oriented so that the peripheries of said disks may contact the periphery of said button head to rotate the button about its axis. Preferably the disk 29 is positively driven and to accomplish this said disk is mounted on a stud 3| which also has mounted thereon a mitre gear 32 which is in mesh with amitre gear 33 mounted on a stud which carries a pinion 34, which latter is in mesh with a gear sector 35 carried by one end of a lever 36, which gear sector is adapted to be oscillated by an operating cam (not shown).

For orienting a button upon reaching the orienting stationthe button. must be rotated about its axis and to provide at least three points of engagement not in a straight line for engaging the periphery of the button head there is: provided a third rotatable disk 31 which is carried at the forward end of the pusher slide 28. In this connection it may be stated that the buttons or the like which may be oriented with the present mechanism have engagement means thereon which bear a definite relation to the design on the top of the button. These engagement means may be of various types and as illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5, the engagement means is in the form of a tab 33 extending inwardly from the shell of the button beneath the head thereof.

The present invention contemplates orienting such buttons and fasteners as described above or their equivalent in any one of a number, preferably three, predetermined positions at the orienting station. These positions may be described as that wherein the design is in upright position when viewed from the front of the machine, that wherein the design is disposed 90 to the left of the upright position, and that wherein the design is disposed 90 to the right of the upright position. v

Up to this point the description of the machine is the same as that disclosed in the patent to Huelster above mentioned.

To selectively orient the buttons in any one of the various predetermined positions a separate locating member is provided for each position and means are provided for selectively operating the locating members. As herein shown, the cating members which are designed for orienting buttons of the type shown in Figs. 4 and 5, are in the form of three locating forks 39, 40 and 4| which are pivotally mounted in side by side relation within the pusher slide 28 upon a pivot pin 42 and each of said members is normally biased in a clockwise direction by a coil spring 43 so that the button engaging end thereof is normally disposed in button engaging relation. It will be noted from an inspection of Figs. 1, 2 and 3 that the locating members at their button engaging ends are of different configuration. The

button engaging end of the member 49 has a recess 49a extending longitudinally of the member and adapted to engage the tab 38 on the button shown in Figs. 4 and 5 so as to orient the button with .the design or indicia thereon in upright position; themember 39 has at its button engaging end a recess 39a, the side walls of which extend at right angles to the longitudinal direction of the member and is adapted. to orient a button withthe design offset from the upright in a counter-clockwise direction, and the member 4| at'the button engaging end thereof is provided with a recess 4|a, the walls of which'are disposed at right angles to the longitudinal direction of the member and is adapted to orient a button with the design disposed 90 from the upright in a clockwise direction. Each of the members 39, 49 and 4| adjacent their rear ends, is formed with a downwardly directed projection 44 and inwardly of said projection with a socket 45 within which the spring 43 is housed.

Also mounted within the pusher slide 28 and slidable longitudinally thereof are three selector slides 46 mounted in side by side relation and in alignment with the locating members 39, 49 and 4 i. Each of the selector slides has extending upwardly from its top face in spaced relation to the rear end thereof an ear 41a, the function for which will presently appear. At their forward ends the selector slides 46 are each formed with a downwardly and forwardly projecting extension, the forwardmost end of which is formed withan upwardly directed projection 47 of complemental form to the projection 44 on the locating members. These complemental projections 44 and 41 constitute camming faces, the function and operation of which will presently appear. The selector slides 43 are supported upon a slide bottom plate 48 which is carried by and secured to the pusher slide and has on its upper face a recess 49 within which is mounted an arcuate spring 59, the crown of which bears against the undersides of the selector members46.

The spring 59 consists of a rectangular piece of resilient metal of arcuate form having a pair of slits 5| and 52 extending inwardly from the opposite ends thereof and. terminating short of the respective opposite ends in somewhat enlarged openings 5|aand 52a. The slits 5| and 52 divide the metal strip into three substantially parallel parts of substantially equal width, the central one of which has its opposite ends connected, respectively, one to each of the other parts. It will thus be seen that the single spring means 59 in effect constitutes three separate spring elements, each of which may flex independently of the others and thereby operate to hold the selector member 49 with which it is in engagement in either of the two positions, which said selector member may occupy, while at the same time providing for the movement of said selector slides and pusher member as a unit.

Normally these selector slides occupy a position within the pusher slide such that the rear ends thereof extend beyond the rear end of the pusher slide and when in this position the camming surfaces on the projections 44 and 4l-are in engage ment and operating to hold the button engaging ends of the locating members out of button engaging position.

For selectively controlling the operation of the locating members through the selective control of the selector slides, a selector control mechanism is mounted rearwardly of the selector slides, or as viewed in Fig. 1, to the rightthereof. This selector control mechanism and its operation are described in detail in the Huelster patent above mentioned and there is merely shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings hereof a portion of said mechanism. This portion is described herein by using the same reference characters as employed in the Huelster patent and consists of a shaft 57 upon which is mounted three fingers 58, 59 and 6!] disposed in direct alignment with the selector slides, the fingers being diametrically disposedandoffset 60 from one another and each one, when in its horizontal position, is adapted to move the selector slide 46 which is in direct alignment therewith, inwardly within the pusher slide as the latter moves rearwardly toward the selector control in the operation of the machine.

The selector shaft 51 is supported in a bracket BI and is operated through a ratchet device which is mounted on the shaft. This ratchet device consists of a ratchet wheel 63 fixedly mounted on the shaft, said ratchet wheel having a hub which loosely carries the hub on a bracket 62 on which is pivotally mounted a ratchet pawl 64 adapted for engagement with the tooth of the ratchet wheel, said pawl being normally urged into such engagement by a spring pressed pin 65 carried by the bracket and engaging an ear B6 of the pawl. The bracket 62 also has a stop pin 6! for limiting the throw of the pawl. For indexing the ratchet device there is pivotally connected to the bracket 62 one end of a link 69, the opposite of which is connected to a bell-cranklever 10, which through its action on the pawl 64 is adapted to move the ratchet wheel an angular distance of 60 every time the bell-crank lever is tilted about its pivot (not shown). The ratchet pawl 64 is also provided with a handle 64a so that by swinging the pawl in a counter-clockwise direction against the tension of the pawl set pin 65, the ratchet member can be rendered inactive so that the selector shaft will not rotate regardless of the motion of the bell-crank lever.

It will be apparent that either manual or automatic means may be employed for operating the selector mechanism and these means may be tied in with the press operation, that is, every time the clutch is tripped the selector mechanism will be advanced.

In regard to the coordinated functioning of the machine, it may be stated that at the beginning of the operation the pusher slide is in an intermediate position, as viewed in Figs. 1 and 6, with each of the selector slides 46 extending beyond the end of the pusher slide and also that each of the locating members has its button engaging ends depressed and held out of button engaging position by the inter-engagement of the cam faces 44 and 41. As a button is released down the raceway to the setting station, let it be assumed that the selector finger 58 is in horizontal position and the locating member 4| is in alignment therewith. The rearward movement of the pusher slide will cause movement inwardly within the pusher slide of that selector member 46 which is in line with finger 58 and locating member 4| upon said selector slide engaging the finger 58, and as said selector slide is moved inwardly, it will be moved along the spring element of the composite spring 50 which frictionally bears on the particular selector slide, in the course of which movement the cam surfaces 44 and 41 will become disengaged and the spring 45 will move the locating member 4| in a clockwise direction about its pivot 42, thereby positioning the button engaging end 4la of the locating member to engage the tab of the button which is to be oriented as said button is rotated about its axis at the orienting station. Rotation of the button at the orienting station is effected by the disks 29, 33 and 31, the latter being on the pusher slide and comes into operation when the pusher slide in its movement to the left reaches the orienting station, the rotation being effected through the operation of the gear sector 35, the pinion and the mitre gears 33 and 32. After the button has been oriented the but-ton is transferred to the setting station 20, the button reeiving portion of which is located slightly removed from the orienting station and is adapted to receive a button in the same relationship to the parts of the mechanism which the oriented button occupies at the orienting station except for the change in position of the button due to shifting it from the orienting to the setting station. However, in order to move the button from the orienting station to the setting station without disturbing the special relationship set forth, the friction disk 30 is made yieldable. To accomplish this the disk 30 which is an idler, is carried by a bracket 92 which is biased inwardly within a socket by a clip 93 which is urged into bearing engagement with the outer end of the bracket 92 by a spring 94 mounted on a threaded stud 95 which carries an adjusting nut 96. Just prior to the timethat the pusher reaches the setting station the ear 41a on the selector slide strikes an abutment or shoulder 91 on a bracket 98 mounted on an immovable part of the machine whereupon the selector slide is displaced from its operative position and moved rearwardly to its normal position at the rear of the pusher slide. This action again brings the cam surfaces 44 and 41 into engagement, thereby swinging the button engaging end of the locating member to its inactive position. The button having been positioned in oriented relation at the setting station and the locating member freed therefrom, the pusher slide is retracted and the setting plunger is depressed to attach the button to the garment. 7

From the foregoing detailed description it will be appreciated and understood that I have shown and described certain improvements in a machine of the type disclosed in the Huelster patent above mentioned and these improvements are defined in the appended claims,

What I claim is:

1. In a button positioning mechanism for buttons or the like having engagement means thereon, means adapted to periodically receive and support a button for rotation about its axis, means for rotating the button about its axis while in said receiving means, a movable member having pivotally mounted thereon a plurality of locating members each adapted to engage the engagement means on the button during rotation thereof to stop rotation of the button in any one of a number of predetermined orientated positions, in combination, springs acting on said locating members tending to bias them into button engaging position, a plurality of selector members slidable relatively to and with the movable member, cooperating means on the locating members and on the selector members normally holding the locating members out of button engaging position and adapted upon movement of one of the selector members relatively to the movable member, to disengage its cooperating locating member, whereby its biasing spring will operate to move said locating member into button engaging position.

2. A button positioning mechanism, according to claim 1, wherein the cooperating means on the locating members and on the selector members are a cam on one of said members and a cam on the other of said members for cooperation with said first-mentioned cam.

3. In a button positioning mechanism for buttons or the like having engagement means thereon, means adapted to periodically receive and support a button for rotation about its axis, means for rotating the button about its axis while in said receiving means, a movable member having a plurality of locating members each adapted to engage the engagement means on the button during rotation thereof to stop rotation of the button in a different predetermined orientated position, a plurality of parallelly disposed selector members slidable relatively to and with the movable member for selectively controlling any one of the locating members, and a singlespring means for normally frictionally holding all of the selector members against movement relative to the movable member so as to be movable therewith and permitting movement of a selector member relative to the movable member when a force sufiicient to overcome the tension of the spring means is applied to said selector member, said spring means consisting of a rectangular piece of resilient'metal of flattened arcuate form having a pair of slits extending inwardly from the opposite ends thereof and terminating short of the respective opposite ends, said slits dividing the strip into three substantially parallel parts, the central one of which has its opposite ends connected respectively, one to each of the outer parts.

JOHN J. KARBUS. 

